Hello OF,

On craigslist in my area I found an interesting IWC cal 89 in 18k. I met the seller in person today to take a couple pictures myself as the photos he provided appeared to be taken with a potato and not a camera. The reference number is not known by him, or I and we did not go to a watchmaker to open the case back as I was just taking an initial look at the watch and promised myself i would not buy anything without the forums valued opinion on said watch. I tried to find the same reference online by surfing through pictures and comparing it to the ones i took but this proved to be unsuccessful so the research I did did not provide a abundant amount of information.

Here are my concerns:

Do you feel this is a redial? please note the _ under the o in Co. The swiss is not visible in the photos but it is present, and centered under the 6 o'clock. If you zoom in a lot you can see the dial is dimpled, i think this is a result of patina / aging although no visible discoloration is present. Also in 1 of the pictures of the dial the F looks faded, but this is just the picture, as it is not so in real life as well as in the second picture of the dial.

The crown is unsigned, but looking at a bunch of cal. 89's I see this is really common, but i'm unsure of this is because a lot of the watches have replacement crowns or if this is how they were produced. Opinions on this?

I think the case is relatively unpolished, although it has a couple dings. Opinions on the edges of the case / lugs?

I am sorry for my lack of information on this watch, but without knowing the reference number I could not do better before turning to the forum, and I greatly appreciate your input.

If i do purchase this watch with the approval of the forum i will definitely have the case open and the movement inspected / measure the amplitude and such!

If you have a ball park range of the worth of the watch feel free to post, I feel this is competitively priced.

p.s sorry to be asking these questions, I feel like a leach, but I promises as I learn more about vintages I will defiantly be contributing knowledge to the forums, this is not a 1 way street after all!

edit: incase this helps i.d the watch its a 36-37mm without crown, and 20mm lugs.

 

Here are some photos of mine for comparison
https://omegaforums.net/threads/its...good-reason-lesson-over-now-go-buy-one.26994/

 

It may be a redial, though I cannot be sure with the photos that you have provided. This model would have had an unsigned crown, but I am skeptical that the one on it is original. The case appears to me to have been polished, though not badly over-polished.

I doubt that anyone on the forum will "approve" a purchase, as photos – especially those that are not especially good - are not sufficient in order to make really confident judgments. More importantly, you need to take full responsibility for your actions, irrespective of how much or little encouragement you may receive from other collectors.

The watch of @CanberraOmega shown above has a different case, though the crown does appear to be quite similar.

Regards,

Tony C.

 

Nice shots, comparing to this i deffintly see the I is incorrect, and as @cicindela pointed out, the script is to thick!

thank you all for the opinions, it is much valued!

 

I am after an all original example, so unless it was priced at he value of the gold i wouldn't buy it! I appreciate the amazing picture of the IWC text, it will allow me to make way better comparisons myself in the future.

The price is 1.7k but he would go down from this a couple hundred i am sure as he is desperate to sell.

 

Price is indeed good. IF the movement is legit specially. I sold mine, which was also a redial , for about that range. And a similar black for 2g

I would ask, or make, high resolution pics with strong and clear light. It is hard for the camera to not distort details on text on bad light asthepixels get noisy. Nor 100% thats the case but the posibility is worth the effort ofmmaking hetter pics and taking pics of the movement.

 

The price is attractive but there is too many watches on my buy list to settle for one I won't be entirely satisfied with, and ultimately that's what is most important in a watch you add to the collection, as I do not buy watches to flip as there is easier sources of income. As a young and pretty new collector I have plenty of time to find really good examples. In comparison to the pictures above there is a lot of discrepancies in the text to point to a redial upon close inspection.

 

Well, THAT makes good sense.

 

Hey, what's with all this prudent, rational, measured watch buying philosophy? Absurd!

 

It wouldn't have anything to do with all the posts of " hey I purchased this in a hurry, how did I do" threads that exist.

 

These are the parts of your post I really like, rated in importance on the thumbs up scale:

"The price is attractive but there is too many watches on my buy list to settle for one I won't be entirely satisfied with" (SHAZAM! Never settle for a redial.)

"ultimately that's what is most important in a watch you add to the collection" (Well, you could buy a lesser example to try first, then sell off once it's replaced with a worthy specimen.)

"I do not buy watches to flip as there is easier sources of income." (Only 1 thumb up because there might not be more fun sources of income. )

"In comparison to the pictures above there is a lot of discrepancies in the text to point to a redial upon close inspection." (Learn the nuances and fine points of the brands you like. Lotsa IWC redials out there.)

I have a bone to pick with this portion though:

"As a young and pretty new collector I have plenty of time to find really good examples."

Don't mock us old dudes.

Well done to ask for help vetting a questionable watch before you purchased it.